One Last Trip
by Veradyn
Summary: Nine of your favorite Rade authors come together to create one awesome story. Follow the gang as they head off on a cross-country road trip. How will the gang manage to bear with each other for so long cramped in an RV? Drama, Humor, Romance, and craziness will surely follow these teens as they make their way around the US, stopping at some awesome locations along the way!
1. Introduction

_Victorious FF 4 – One Last Trip"_

_Introduction_

* * *

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the Multi-author Collab Super-Story, One Last Trip.

The story will follow the gang as their final year at Hollywood Arts comes to close, and they head off on a cross-country road trip. How will the gang manage to bear with each other for so long cramped in an RV? Drama, Humor, Romance, and craziness will surely follow these teens as they make their way around the U.S., stopping at some awesome locations along the way.

Who will be writing the story? You will most likely recognize them if you a regular in the Rade Section. They are:

(In Alphabetical Order)

Broken Eros

Cenobite829

CircusWheel

GallaudetLurker

GunjiBunny

Jonathan 81

MaybeWolf

Veradyn

* * *

Please stay tuned, follow the story for updates, and leave a review – Tell us what you think!

Make sure to check out the profiles of all the authors listed above, and give them a fav/follow as well!

-V


	2. Graduation

_Victorious FF 4 – One Last Trip"_

"_Chapter 1: Graduation"_

* * *

**_The first chapter has arrived! Hope you enjoy, and make sure to check out the profiles of all of the authors of One Last Trip, as well._  
**

**_Chapter 1 written by: Veradyn  
_**

* * *

"Can we just go already? We've been sitting here for like twenty minutes." Jade groaned at the olive-skinned boy, who was holding a clipboard, going over a checklist to the rest of the gang before they left on their trip.

"Chill out, Jade. The country isn't just going to run away from us for taking some extra time to prepare." He replied, not taking his eyes off the clipboard. Jade rolled her eyes at his attempt to have a clever response.

Beck continues to go through the checklist of things they'll need on their cross-country journey. As he goes down the list he says the items to himself, takes a quick look around the RV to find the item, and then marks it down.

"Snacks… Check."

"Water inside the RV… Check."

"Emergency kit… Check."

He pauses for a moment.

"Did you guys bring your Pearpods?" He asks, lifting his eyes from the checklist to the rest of group – who in fact, are all listening to their pearpods, some dancing in their seats to the beat of the music.

He gives a deadpan look to the group, before looking back down at the list. "Check."

"Okay guys." Beck loudly announces to the group, trying to make himself heard through their music. No one responds.

"IT'S TIME TO GO." He announces a bit louder this time. Hearing this, the group instantaneously take out their ear buds and start to cheer.

"I'll take the first shift driving, and then we'll all switch out every hour or so." Beck says as he sets the clipboard down on the table next to him, and starts to head toward the door of the RV.

"I still don't have my license, though." Tori shouts out to the boy, as he is leaving.

Jade glares over to Tori with her eyes sort of squinted. "Pathetic."

Tori furrows her brow and slightly frowns at the comment.

"Don't sweat it; I'll drive a double in your place." Beck says, kind of chuckling at the girl's reaction. Jade rolls her eyes at Mr. nice-guy.

"FIRST STOP, LAS VEGAS!" Beck shouts back to the group, and closes the door.

* * *

_One week earlier_

* * *

It's one week until graduation day. The seniors at Hollywood arts are scattered throughout the halls washing the paint and other accessories off of their lockers, getting them prepared for the next year's wave of incoming freshman. Beck and Andre are done relatively quickly, as all they need to do is switch back to the standard locker door. Since they finished so fast, they take a short walk over to Tori and chat with her for a bit, while she removes the lights and paint from her locker. In the midst of conversation, the boys bring up the much anticipated after-graduation road trip the group has been planning since they were freshman.

"Road trip? What road trip?" Tori questions the guys as they are in mid-sentence.

"Oh, no one told you? Well, I guess we haven't really talked about it much since we first had the idea freshman year." Andre responds.

"Towards the end of freshman year, Beck, Robbie, Cat, Jade, and I all wanted to have one final big way to end the year, after we graduated. Since Beck just his RV, he came up with the idea of having a long cross-country road trip during the summer before we all went off to college and stuff." He continued.

"Oh." Tori said with kind of a sulking expression on her face. "Sounds like fun."

The boys look at each other and chuckle a bit.

"You can come too." Beck says to the girl.

"Really?" Tori's face brightens up, and she jumps a little.

"Yeah, of course." Beck responds, still laughing at her child-like demeanor.

"Thanks so much, you guys! This is going to be so much fun." Tori leans in to hug the both of them, but quickly stops herself as her hands are covered in grey paint.

"WHAT?!" Jade shouts from across the hall. Robbie, who is standing right next to her, falls backwards to the ground, holding his ears from the shriek of the banshee. Jade stomps across the hall to Tori's locker where the three are standing.

"You're letting this skunkbag in on the trip?" She spits out. "It's bad enough that I have to deal with Robbie the entire the summer, but Tori?" Jade lets out a long groan.

"Listen Jade, she's just as much part of the group as any one of us. She's going – and if you have a problem with that, you can just stay home." Beck backlashes at the girl.

Jade opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. She crosses her arms, and stomps back over to her locker on the other side of the hallway. Just as Robbie stands up from his last fall, Jade pushes him with a forceful push out of her way, causing him to fall back over and slide across the hall into the wall of lockers beside them. The girl continues on to rip the various-colored, sharp scissors from her locker with a very angry look painted across her face.

Andre, Beck, and Tori, just watch as the Goth girl goes on a tyrannical rage at her locker.

"She's mad…" Andre mindlessly says to the other two as they continue to watch.

* * *

_The Night of Graduation_

* * *

The students and their families arrived at the school at around 6:00pm. All of the graduating students were being held in gymnasium before the actual graduation ceremony, while all of their parents and family were downstairs in the auditorium waiting to watch their child walk the stage. The same topic seemed to roam around the gymnasium amongst all of the various groups of friends.

"What are you going to do to celebrate?" and "What are you gonna do this summer?"

Some students were going to the all-night graduation party hosted by the school, while others were throwing their own parties (One's with a lot less supervision, and with quite a lot of judgment-altering beverages). Andre, Beck, Cat, Jade, Robbie, and Tori, however, were getting their last minute ideas in for the summer-long cross country road trip they dubbed their "One Last Trip."

Beck made sure everyone's suitcases and bags were packed and ready to go inside of his RV. Unknown to the group, this was just the beginning of his OCD planning procedure. They spent about thirty minutes going over some more places they would like to make stops at, and some last minute sleeping arrangements while on the RV. Their conversation got cut short when the person graduation director ordered them to line up in the order that they had previously been told during their week of graduation practice. Everyone lined up, adjusted their caps, and stood in silence as the director was talking to another faculty member, making sure everything in the auditorium downstairs was all set.

The graduation music could faintly be heard from the students, queuing them to start walking out of the gymnasium to the auditorium. They followed the director down the stairs, and continued with that special slow walk down the center of the auditorium to their seats.

As the ceremony continued, some were sitting with giant smiles on their face at their achievement, while others, such as cat, were in near tears at the fact that this would be their last time in this building as a student of Hollywood Arts. The night seemed to fly by in a blur. There was the guest speaker, then Robbie made his valedictorian speech, some awards were handed out to those who completed special achievements, such as honors, perfect attendance, national honor society, as well as sport team achievements. It was finally time for the moment everyone was waiting for – The walk across the stage to be handed their diploma.

Student after student was called up to the stage, the alphabetical order. Several students were called up, but it was finally time for the first of the group to walk.

"Andre Harris, Honors." The principal announced. The boy walked across the stage, shook hands with Principal Helen, the guest speaker, and Sikowitz, who was handing the students their diplomas. The crowd roared with applause – and his very distinct sounding grandma could be heard over all others. "YOU GO, ANDRE!" quickly followed by "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" directed at the people sitting around to her.

More students continued to walk the stage – about ten minutes later, it was time for the next of the group.

"Beckett Oliver!"

Shrieks upon shrieks from multiple girls filled the auditorium. Even after the dark-skinned boy walked off the stage it took at least five minutes before the screams and applause to die down, allowing for the next student – who probably felt terrible at this point, to walk the stage.

It wasn't too long before the third member of the group took his turn to walk the stage.

"Robert Shapiro, High Honors, Valedictorian!" Not as much applause as the other two, but it was more than he expected. A loud shout could be heard from his seat – "You go, pops!" The crowd goes silent, looking at the stagnant dummy sitting in Robbie's seat and then back to Robbie on stage, back to the puppet, and to Robbie once more. "Wow he's good," could be heard numerous times among the people in the crowd.

The last three of the group went up one after the other, as their last names were all close alphabetically.

"Caterina Valentine!"

"Victoria Vega, Honors!"

"Jade West, High Honors!"

Each of the three got their own set of appraise from the crowd.

The last few students, one of which is Sinjin, walk the stage. Principal Helen says some last few words, and the ceremony concludes.

"Congratulations to the new graduating class of Hollywood Arts! Good luck in all of your future endeavors, and make sure to stay safe!"

The entire group of now-graduated students shoot up out of their seats, and a wave of navy blue and red square hats fly into the air. Everyone heads out from their assigned seating to go find their families. After a quick meeting with their parents and siblings, each member of the group says their good-byes, and leaves the building. They make their way across the dark parking-lot, where a lot of people are trying to make their way out. The group, or should I say Beck, decides to go over one last checklist of items they will need for the trip, while the parking lot clears itself out.

Twenty minutes pass, Beck finishes his list, and it's finally time to head out on their "One Last Trip!"

* * *

_**Hope you enjoyed! A lot more exciting things to come in the upcoming chapters, so make sure to stay tuned for more. Please remember to review!**_


	3. Incompetence

**Chapter 2 written by: Circuswheel  
**

* * *

Jade doesn't know how to cope with the fact that she's been friends with a pack of idiots for the past four years, she really doesn't. There's no explanation for it.

Dating Beck for nearly three years was a huge part of it. Pretty much the only part of it, really. He was the reason why she had met Andre and Robbie, and part of why she allowed Cat around so much. Eight months ago, she had been thrilled at the idea of a cross-country road trip with him and the rest of her goony sort-of friends.

Now, not so much. Firstly, _Tori_ was here, and she and Beck still could barely be in the same room for more than ten minutes without an argument sparking. Being essentially trapped together in an RV for a month-plus? Probably not the best of ideas. She really hadn't thought this through. She shouldn't have come at all, but she had, and the thought of showing up Tori was still strong enough to keep her from flinging herself out of the vehicle.

Barely, though. Yesterday, as the RV had been leaving the California border, Beck had nearly driven off the road hollering back at her. He was so stupid. Why did he think he would be the one to pick the driving playlist? No one wants to hear crappy low-fi indie rock for the upwards of three hours. It all sounds the same! She felt as if she'd been pulled into a time-warp.

After a ten-minute pit stop full of yelling, Andre had taken over driving and Jade had been relegated to the back of the RV. She'd sat on Beck's bed, headphones jammed in her ears, listening to Icelandic metal music, keeping her scowl firmly on her face. Cat leaned over backwards in her seat to give her a sympathetic pout, but Jade avoided her glance. She didn't need sympathy! She needed Xanax. Robbie was sitting beside her, consulting his roadmap but really watching her warily, stupid inhaler clutched in his free hand.

They were in Oregon now, heading further into the state on Route 86. They were parking the RV overnight and going to be checking out some sort of canyon – it wasn't the Grand Canyon, so who the hell cared? Stupid Beck and his stupid checklist of boring things no one cared about. Anyway, there was a little motel nearby, and they were going to spend the night there, getting showers and things, before heading out in the morning to explore the sights.

Jade hasn't moved once in about six hours, and her legs are cramping and she sort of has to pee really badly, but Beck's been driving again – two hours instead of one because Tori's incompetence – and she doesn't want to ask him to pull over.

She lets out a slight growl to get Robbie's attention. He's still sitting beside her on the bed for some reason, even though he'd had his own driving shift a few hours ago and he could have totally stayed up front with Andre and Tori. Anyway, now he looks up from his map (he's practically glued to the damn thing) to give her a very fearful glance, which _so _isn't necessary.

She's not that damn scary, is she? At the beginning of senior year, a little before she and Beck had broken up, she and Robbie had starred together in one of Sikowitz's plays, and she hadn't killed him or anything, and only punched him _twice!_ He doesn't need to be looking at her like a scared antelope that's trapped with a gimp leg.

Shes got his attention now, or whatever, so she grunts at him, "What time are we supposed to be there? It's dark out now."

"Uh - " Robbie consults his roadmap again, which is stupid because surely the hotel isn't even on it - "well, Beck sort of got us lost for a bit - "

"Of course he did," Jade drawls.

Robbie grins, which makes her feel marginally better, because at least someone else understands Beck's incompetence. "But, but um, soon, I think. Maybe ten minutes? I hope there's room service. I need to order dinner."

"We packed food," Jade reminds him.

She guesses it's all right for them to have a conversation in public. She_ is_ stuck with him and everyone else for the past two months, right? Might as well try and – tolerate him. It's still better than wasting away at home getting ignored by everyone and listening to her parents fight and throw things. She wishes they would just get divorced already.

"Yeah," says Robbie glumly. "Food that I can't eat. Beck made like a thousand checklists, but did one of them contain a list of my allergies? No! Thank God my mother sent me off with a care package! I think I'm already running out of ointment, though. You know, if I sit in the same spot for too long, I get a rash. The microfibers in the RV - "

Oh, right. That's why she doesn't have conversations with him.

Luckily, though, just then the RV swerves a little, and Tori and Andre let out happy little shouts from up front. "Motel 5, three miles, baby!" Andre cries.

"Motel _5_?" Jade repeats incredulously.

"They leave the lantern on for you," Robbie quips. Jade grits her teeth.

They get to the hotel and it's a massive pile of confusion for a few minutes, what with everyone scrabbling around to locate their stuff, Beck screaming because he can't find his dad's credit card (and isn't Beck so lucky that his father is funding their entire trip? Must be nice to have doting parents), and then the RV is too big for the regulation parking so they have to drive around back and park by the dumpsters, which is uncool. Cat's leaning up over one and singing showtunes to an apparently sleeping racoon as Jade shifts from foot-to-foot, trying not to be obvious about doing her _really-have-to-freaking-pee_ dance.

"Say, Red?" Andre says hesitantly, pulling her away from the dumpster. "Yeah, don't think that raccoon is sleeping. Think it's in that dumpster for a reason."

Cat looks momentarily crushed, but also still a little happy that Andre's holding her hand (Jade doesn't pretend to know what goes through Cat's head – she likes a different boy that isn't Robbie every other week), and moves away from the dumpster, nearly crashing into Tori, who's – are you serious? - carting a mini humidifier out of the RV.

"So," says the brunette, recovering from the close-call-Cat-assault with practiced ease, "how exactly is this going to work? How many hotel rooms are we going to get? Did you book them already?"

God, so many questions! Why can't they just freaking go?

"Well, there's six of us, so I figured, yeah, three rooms," Beck tells her. "And don't worry, Tor, I already booked 'em."

"Okay, who's sleeping where?"

"Who cares?" Jade bites in, because the way that Beck looks at Tori still pisses her off sometimes. "Some of us have to pee."

"Yeah, some of us have to pee _a lot,_" adds Robbie, who Jade now notices is also bouncing a little. Gross!

"I care!" squawks Tori.

"No one cares that you care!" Talking back to Tori is more important that finding a restroom, Jade thinks.

Beck sort of leans back against the hotel wall to watch the oncoming argument – jerk – but Andre swoops in quickly. "Ladies," he says. "Look, we've been driving three days and we're all tired. Let's just figure out who's going where."

"I can't sleep in the same room as any boys," Tori says immediately.

Jade rolls her eyes. "What, did you promise Mommy?"

Tori rolls her eyes back. "Um, I did, actually."

"We all slept together in the RV, Tori," Cat breaks in helpfully. "Doesn't that count?"

Tori frowns. "Well – I didn't think of that. But that's different! Anyway, I call Cat! Cat, we're roomies!"

"Yayay!"

"What?" cries Jade. "You can't just call Cat! What if I wanted Cat?"

Cat looks happy to be fought over.

"Do _you_ want to room with me, Jade?" Tori demands. "I promised my parents I wouldn't sleep alone in any hotels with boys. So you and Cat are the only ones."

Jade scowls hard, because – well, yeah, she really doesn't want to room with Tori and her stupid humidifier. Does she use that thing at home, too? Probably why her hair always looks so frizzy. "Whatever."

Beck hefts his bookbag up over his shoulder. "So, we good?"

"No," sneers Jade. "Who am I rooming with now? I hope you don't think I'm ever sleeping with _you_ again."

Beck frowns a little at her but doesn't give much of a comeback. "Fine," he says. "I was planning on rooming with Andre, anyway." No one says anything for a moment, and for some reason they all look at her a bit expectantly.

Jade glares back at Beck for a minute, blinking, before she gets it. "Wait, so me and _Robbie?_ Are you kidding me? No way!"

Robbie makes a soft sound of distress, too, but Beck scoffs at her impatiently. "Jade, seriously! It's for one night!"

"I am not sharing a room with Puppet Boy and his assortment of ointments."

"It's not really an _assortment_ - " breaks in Robbie.

"Guys, look," Andre says, interrupting him, coming to step between Beck and Jade. "Jade, if you really want, I'll chill with you tonight. It's just that Beck is supposed to be helping me work on these songs I'm writing."

"Hey, what songs?" Tori cries, swooping in (oh God, Cat's meandered back over to the dumpster and is peering in again, but Jade doesn't bring this to the attention of anyone).

"Tor, I always got songs," Andre says loftily.

"You know, my dad's got those studio connections," Beck adds. "I said I'd help Andre hammer out the details. For his music internship." He raises an eyebrow annoyingly at Jade, like she's supposed to know Andre's life plans!

"Yeah, I gotta get 'em in by the end of July," Andre says. "I didn't want to cancel out on our trip, so Beck and I were planning to work on them whenever there's downtime. So… "

He raises an eyebrow of his own at her hopefully, and he and Beck both look at her, waiting on her decision.

Aw, crap. Well, she really can't put Andre's stupid music career in jeopardy just because she feels like making a scene, can she? And everyone's _looking_ at her! She crosses her arms very tightly. "Fine, whatever," she grits out. "I'll room with Robbie, all right? Let's just freaking _go!_" She turns and starts stomping off without looking back at any of them.

The Motel 5 lobby is a bit dingy but it's at least air-conditioned, and Jade leans darkly against the wall beside a wilting potted plant, watching as Beck flirts with the teenaged girl at the counter and flashes his dad's credit cards around. Robbie comes up to her a moment later, fiddling with their room keys and looking laden-down with three bookbags.

"I, uh, grabbed your pack for you," he says, shifting his shoulder so she can see. "You left it at the RV."

"Oh." Well, that would have sucked, having to walk all the way back. "Thanks, I guess." She snatches the key from him, noting the number, and clomps off towards the stairs (God, there's no elevator?!), leaving him to carry the bags.

"Guys, be up and ready by eight!" Beck calls cheerfully to her back, which is appalling. No one should sound so happy at the thought of eight AM. "Tomorrow is Hell's Canyon!"

Jade slams her way up the rest of the steps and throws herself at their room door, fiddling with the jank key. "Can't believe this stupid building doesn't have key cards," she snarls. "What is this, freaking Bates Motel?" She turns the key over and tries to jam it in the opposite way, turning the knob furiously. "Chizz!"

Robbie hovers awkwardly behind her as she struggles with the door. "Maybe, um - " he takes a step closer to lean over her - "here, try and twist the knob at the same time."

"What?" she demands, so Robbie puts his hand over hers on the doorknob and turns it down slightly as his other hand helps her jingle the key. The lock clicks quietly and then the door swings open a bit. "Oh."

"Yeah," Robbie says. "You just gotta know – how to work them."

His hand is still over hers, which is annoying, so she growls a little and pushes past him into the darkened room. "What are you, some kinda locksmith?"

"Um, no," he says nervously. "Just – me and my mom moved a lot, some of the places were – well, I know how to open crappy doors."

Oh, well. Jade guesses she hadn't known that. She could ask why, but she doesn't care enough. She finds the light switch beside the door and flicks it on, then zooms to what she hopes is the bathroom without looking around.

When she exits the bath a moment later, Robbie is still standing in the middle of the room, looking distressed with the backpacks still on his shoulders.

"What's your problem?" Jade demands, before following his gaze to see what he's frowning at.

The full-sized bed situated in the middle of the room against the wall. Not twin beds like they'd thought. "Oh, Christ!" she hollers. "Now I literally have to sleep with you? Can this trip get _any_ worse?"

Robbie frowns, moving over to slide the backpacks he's carrying onto the ground. "I can, um," he says, "sleep on the floor? Or, in the bathtub."

Jade snorts derisively. "Trust me, you do not want to sleep in that bathroom. I think the last time it was cleaned was when Bill Clinton was still President."

"Oh," says Robbie, and looks overwhelmed. "Well – um, great."

Jade scowls and snatches her bookbag up from the ground and carries it over to the bed, which she collapses down upon. "Dude, I don't even care," she says. "I'm just tired. I don't care where you sleep." She unzips the pack and begins rooting around in it. "I need to shower, like, so freaking bad."

"Okay," says Robbie, and just stares at her as she pulls out a pair of pajamas. She glares back.

"Don't you have to pee?"

"Beck, Andre, and I peed outside after you girls went inside."

Male solidarity. That's disgusting. "That's disgusting."

Robbie laughs. "It was Beck's idea. And now, um, you can use the bathroom, without screaming at me about my germs everywhere."

She guesses he has a point there. "Okay, whatever," she says, rising from the bed. "I'm going to shower – don't pick the lock."

The bathroom actually isn't that bad, though it is pretty small, and the showerhead's water-pressure is set to high. Jade sort feels like she's being assaulted by a high-powered fire hydrant, but at least the water's hot. She spends a while standing under the hard spray, until the water grows lukewarm and then cold. Sorry, Shapiro!

When she comes back into the room, wearing a tank top and an old pair of sweatpants that she has a dark feeling might actually be Beck's from before they're broken up, Shapiro's all squished up in a corner of the bed, wearing – oh dear God, what the heck is he wearing?

"Robbie, what the heck are you wearing?"

Robbie looks up from the TV which has an episode of Rugrats playing in Spanish. "Don't you watch Galaxy Wars?" he asks. "My mom got me these pajamas as a graduation present."

Oh my God. That's sort of weird, and what a dork. He hurts her so much. His pajamas are neon-blue and have planets and clouds and some stupid logo all over them – he's even wearing the matching button-up top! God! She chooses to ignore the pain, though, settling down far away from him on the opposite side of the bed. "Whatever." She leans over, gathering her hair to the side to begin loosely braiding it. She's forgotten to bring a hair dryer. She'd figured she could just use Cat's, but – well, see how that had worked out. God, she wants a cigarette.

"Hey," she demands, "is this a smoking room?"

"I don't think so," says Robbie. "Um. Beck will probably get charged extra if they find out you're smoking in here."

"Good," retorts Jade, and digs around in her bookbag some more before pulling out her pack of cigarettes and lighting one up. Robbie pulls his gaze away from Rugrats to look at her again nervously, then he rises and opens the window a crack, she guesses so the smoke will billow out.

"I'm going to brush my teeth," he tells her, heading to the bathroom.

"If you wanna shower I used all the hot water," Jade says, stretching out on the bed, watching the stupid babies onscreen.

"Okay," says Robbie. For some reason he hesitates by the bathroom door, looking at her, tapping his fist against the wall lightly. Jade ignores it for a second, then lets her gaze flit to him, because he clearly wants her attention. He says, "You know – I didn't mind – I mean, I don't mind rooming with you. I mean, no one wanted to room with me either. So."

She just stares back at him for a second until he flushes and drops his gaze. Finally, "Yeah," she says. "It sucks, don't it?"

"Maybe not," Robbie says, which is weird. He looks up at her again for a minute before turning to head into the bathroom. "Okay, well. Showering." His stupid pajamas are practically glow-in-the-dark.

"You got a lightning bolt on your butt," Jade tells him. "God, how will I contain myself tonight, sleeping so close to your hot bod."

Robbie squeaks. "Don't look at my butt!" he cries, closing the bathroom door on her. Jade laughs.

She lays on the bed, watching the TV and answering Cat's texts (Tori's humidifer had fried the outlet in their room and now they had no power – guess Cat won't be blow-drying her hair either, sucks) for a few minutes. Shapiro comes back out of the shower, hair dripping a bit and generally looking like a sad Labradoodle, back in his stupid pajamas. He flicks the light off and sits on the bed awkwardly beside her, and smiles when she tells him about Tori and Cat's power problems.

"Hey," he says. "At least Beck and Andre have to share a bed too." He pauses, then adds meanly, "I hope Andre's a cuddler."

Jade laughs in glee. For that, she lets Shapiro keep watching his stupid Spanish kids' show. After Rugrats ends, Ahhh! Real Monsters comes on, and maybe Jade bounces slightly in excitement, because she hasn't seen this show in forever, whether it's in Spanish or not. "What?" she snarls when she feels Shapiro's gaze flicker over to her.

"Nothing," he says. A moment later, "I love Nickelodeon."

"Me too," says Jade before she can help herself. "Way better than Disney."

Robbie looks happy. "Yeah."

Gross, did they just have a bonding moment over children's television? Jade says, "You better not touch me with your gross feet tonight. I will cut them off if I feel one toenail."

"I'll try not to. I need my feet for exploring Hell's Canyon tomorrow. Yay."

He sounds just as excited about it as she does. Jade tries not to smirk, then decides it's okay, since the room is dark.

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoyed this very awesome chapter by Circuswheel. Remember to submit those reviews and click that favorite button! Also make sure to check out Circuswheel's profile, as well!**

**-V**


	4. Unexpected

**Chapter 3 Written by: Cenobite829**

* * *

One Last Trip

Chapter 3

Unexpected

Robbie sighed as he struggled to finish the hike back up Hell's Canyon. It was a scenic canyon with a small waterfall at the end. Of course everyone wanted to go swimming but Robbie stayed off to the side. He wasn't about to take his shirt off and have his pathetic body compared to Beck and Andre, two of the hottest guys at Hollywood Arts. His breath almost stopped when he saw Cat, Tori, and Jade in their two pieces. He sat in the shadows of a nearby tree and watched them. Cat's was hot pink and actually the most modest of the bathing suits, looking almost like something you would give to a small girl except that seemed to make it hotter. It played on her innocence and made guys pay attention to her. Tori's was purple and looked more like something you would wear for a work out. It had a sports bra like top and boy shorts that showed off her toned body. Even though he loved looking at those two bathing suits Jade's was burned into his mind. It was a jet black string bikini that barely covered anything. It worked perfectly with her pale skin and long black hair. He figured that Beck would see it and be staring at her but actually he was paying more attention to Tori. He was picking her up and tossing her playfully. Her squeals filled the air before she went to try and tackle him. At the same time Andre was teaching Cat how to swim and they were laughing and joking. Robbie watched Jade swim away from the group and get on a rock to rest. This gave him a great view of her body as she was sunning herself.

Last night had gone about as well as he could've hoped. They watched cartoons for a long while and then when he crawled into bed to sleep she stayed as far away from him as possible. Something strange happened when he woke up though. Jade was very close to him, not touching him but as close as she can be without actually touching. Had he rolled over he would've ended up on top of her. He slid out of bed and went to take a cold shower to calm his body down. That was how he started his day. Now he was here watching her sunbath and it was still just as hard to look at her without certain parts of his anatomy changing as it was this morning. About an hour later they were all ready to go and started the trek back up. They got up to the top and started walking back to the Motel 5. Beck didn't want to waste the gas so they had walked to the canyon. Robbie hated every second of it. His legs and back were screaming at him. He was never very physical and this was too much for him. He just wanted to get to the room and take a nice hot bath. They were about twenty minutes from the motel when the sky opened up with a huge downpour. The rest of the gang ran to the hotel but his legs and back were so sore he couldn't. He had to walk the entire way and due to his sore body it took him over thirty minutes to get back. He dragged himself up the stairs and realized he didn't have the key. He knocked on the door and had to stand out in the freezing hallway for another fifteen minutes. Jade opened it and let him in.

"What kept you so long?" She asked in a voice filled with indifference.

He moved past her and walked shivering towards the bathroom. He grabbed his pajamas and got into the small bathroom. He stripped of his clothes and cut on the shower setting it to be as hot as possible. He climbed in and was slammed by the ice cold spray. His body tried to shut down from the cold as his brain barely registered that Jade had wet hair, she had used the shower and used up all of the hot water. He struggled to shut off the water and get out of the icy spray. He collapsed on the floor and slowly wrapped himself up in a towel. He layed there shivering for a long while before he could put his clothes on. He barely was able to stand to leave the bathroom. He walked into the arctic. Jade had the air on full blast. Before he could say anything he saw why. She had horrible sun burn. She forgot to put on any sun screen and was now paying the price. Right now she was only wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top, most likely the same thing she was wearing when she opened the door, Robbie didn't remember. She looked to be in a lot of pain. Robbie was going to complain but seeing her in pain like that he couldn't. He just shivered over to one side of the bed and slid under the covers. Jade didn't even acknowledge him as he curled up and tried to sleep.

"Oh my god!" was the scream that woke him up a few hours later. Jade was right beside him in the bed. Robbie tried to sit up but he couldn't. He felt like his head was stuffed with cotton and he started shivering almost immediately. He felt something warm against his back but had no energy to see what it was. He figured out it was Jade when he saw her hand start to rub his arm, trying to get it warm again. He just wanted to go to sleep and started to doze off. Jade had other ideas.

"Come on wake up Shapiro." She said in a harsh voice. Robbie couldn't be bothered to respond as he slipped farther into the darkness of sleep. He started to feel something warm rub against his arms and legs and then a very sweet voice call in his ear. "Wake up Robbie. Please." He slowly tried to get back to that voice and the warmth he felt. He struggled against the darkness trying to wake up. He heard the voice again. "That's right. Come back to me Robbie. You can't just leave like this." He surged back to the land of the living and slowly opened his eyes. He expected to see Cat or maybe Tori hovering over him. What he saw was even a bigger shock. Jade was looking down at him with tears in her eyes. He still felt cold and his head still hurt he reached up and lightly brushed a tear off of her cheek. She grabbed his hand and started to rub it because it was cold. No words were exchanged as she just looked at him and helped him warm up. As he slowly started to drift off, now warm, he felt her snuggle into him and sigh happily.

The next day when Robbie woke up the next morning he felt horrible. His head was clogged up and felt like it was floating on a string. He could barely move as he went to stand up. Jade was already dressed and packing as she looked at him. He tried to stand again but he was rocked by some dizziness and he flopped back on the bed. Jade walked over and handed him his bags.

"You ok?" She asked a bored look on her face. He just shook his head and then stood up. He slowly moved down the hall and to the RV. Beck already had it opened and he saw Robbie and helped him up.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned. Robbie once again shook his head and went to the couch. He laid down and soon he was starting to doze. He caught snips of the conversation around him.

"What happened to him?" He heard Beck ask.

"The dork got caught in the rain." Jade said.

"Why didn't he take a hot shower?" Tori asked. He dozed off then and didn't hear the response. When he woke up later someone was shaking him. He rolled over and once again found himself looking into the blue eyes of Jade. He looked around and didn't see anyone else in the RV. They were all in the truck with Beck. Jade had a small cup of medicine.

"I need you to take this." She said sweetly. He took it and felt the burn of NyteQuil in his throat. He looked at her and it may have been the meds and his own sickness but he could've sworn she gently brushed her hand along his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. She kept comforting him as they drove down the highway towards Forks WA, which Cat and Tori really wanted to go to. Honestly if he was more alert he would say that Beck wanted to go as well. Soon he was asleep again.

About four hours later he woke up shivering violently. He heard Cat talking very hushed beside him.

"Tori he is burning up." she whined, hitting that perfect tone that was nails down a chalkboard to his mind. Looking back it was that moment that made him get over his crush on her. Cat was helpless to help him while Jade had just taken action to make sure he was ok. He kept shaking and realized his head was swimming so much he couldn't tell if the vehicle had stopped. It must have, though, because he could hear Andre, Beck, Tori, Jade, and Cat talking in hushed tones and it was about him.

"Look we can keep going on this trip someone will just have to stay back here and help him." Tori said. Andre and Beck quickly agreed and Cat didn't want to go against Andre.

"So who is going to watch him then?" Cat asked. Robbie could hear that she didn't want it to be her.

"I'll-" Tori started but Jade cut her off.

"Listen I'll do it but I'll need everyone to ride in the truck until Forks. Robbie needs quiet and we don't know if he is contagious. Do we have a deal?" Jade asked sounding very sure that everyone would agree. They must have because he heard people leave and then felt a soft hand rest on his forehead. "You have a fever so I am going to wrap you up every tightly so you can sweat it out." She told him very softly as she started to wrap him up. He dozed off as she did.

He woke up in an oven. He struggled against the heat and tried to move but he felt soft and strong hands holding him. "You need to stop moving. I have some water here. Let me help you sit up." Those same hands helped him and the cool water in his mouth made him feel better. He forced his eyes open and found himself looking at an angel, at least to his fever addled mind. Jade let him finish the water and soon he laid back down. It was getting dark and soon everyone moved into the RV. Jade and Beck helped move Robbie into the back of the RV where he was given the bed. She closed the curtain and put a cool washcloth on his head. Robbie dozed on and off for the rest of the evening until everyone was going to sleep. Then he felt something soft and warm slide against his back. He then said the only thing he could.

"Thank...you." He said in a raspy whisper. Jade pulled him closer and he heard her whispered reply.

"Welcome."

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**-V**


	5. Dream

**Chapter 4 Written by: GunjiBunny**

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As the RV bumped and kicked along the road, Beck assuring them he knew where he was going, Robbie lay huddled in the back. Swaddled in blankets, sweating yet somehow still shivering for large periods of time there was blackness. Every now and then his eyes would open and he could see Jade sitting in front of him. Blink, concern, blink, annoyance, blink, medicine, blink, ignoring him. From the beeps and sounds coming from something she was holding in her hands Robbie figured it was a game system or something. Losing the battle to stay awake, Robbie listened. It sounded like she just started, that the bad guy was winning. If he remembered right it sounded like the music from Final Journey Six, if that's true then that means.

"Robbie, Sir Robbie you must wake up. It's our ladyships the dark dragon lord Skiowizard is kidnapping them," came a familiar voice that roused him from his slumber. Looking around the first thing Robbie noticed was he wasn't in Beck's RV, he was in a straw bed wearing strange armor, full body armor that was almost form fitting. Looking up he saw Beck standing above him wearing more barbaric armor with metal pants and boots and the leather shirt covering only one side of his chest. His hair was longer and tied in a ponytail. Grabbing him and pulling him up they went to the balcony where Andre stood firing lightning bolts into the sky towards the dragon that had a figure under each arm. Andre was wearing dark blue robes with black markings on them.

"Robbie, Beck, we need to make haste. Cat told me that she was getting the dragon whistle, we can take the royal protector to chase after them," Andre said unfazed by any of this. Looking after the dragon Robbie wondered why he didn't feel that way about any of this; it was all insane but somehow felt right. When it came to who he wanted to save more though his head told him that no matter what he had to rescue Jade. Beck and Andre would surely go after Tori; no doubt about that and that would leave him and Cat to save Jade. Closing his eyes he was a little confused to see that it was set up like an inventory system. Well he was already losing his mind, might go full broke on this all. Picking a powerful sword at his level he opened his eyes to see that it was there in his hands. Taking a few practice swings he put it away as Cat came running up to them holding a strange whistle.

"Alright guys everyone come here," ordered Cat, who was wearing a red and black checkered jester clothes. The gang came together as Cat blew into a whistle and soon they were off. The world then changed so that the vast land overhead became pixilated as they all were one icon.

"Am I the only one who is confused by this?" Robbie asked.

"You're just cranky because you're in the tail again," replied Andre.

"Tail, what does that even mean?" Before it could happen the world changed and the music became more dramatic. Soon they were all standing in front of a strange dragon creature. "Okay seriously where is that music coming from?" sheepishly Cat turned off her pear pod.

"Alright I'm a tad confused," said Robbie again as Beck attacked the beast and the numbers '700' came over the dragon's head as Andre fired an ice spell. Cat giggled.

"Random battle silly," Cat said motioning at the dragon, "Turn based, your turn"

Confused Robbie removed his sword and attacking doing a critical for 1,000 causing the dragon to vanish and the others to dance.

"Way to go Robbie," Andre called out and soon they were back riding the dragon. Two more random battles and they appeared in front of the castle where the princesses were being held. Waiting outside was a man selling goods and Andre and Beck started to purchase goods while Cat gave Robbie a strange drink to help him heal his wounds. Returning to them Andre looked concerned.

"There are two passageways to rescue Tori and Jade, Beck and I will go after Tori, which leaves you and Cat for Jade."

"Wait shouldn't we stick together?" Robbie asked as Beck and Andre turned from them.

"Well Tori's a real princess, and Jade's more of a warrior princess." Beck and Andre gave Robbie and Cat and thumbs up before taking their leave.

"Are they kidding us?" Robbie asked turning but Cat was gone, walking towards the door that was clearly marked 'Jade's Quarters' clearly whoever was trapping the girls here was clearly insane.

There were a few traps mostly obvious to Robbie, not so much Cat who almost ate from a bowl of candy because it said 'not poisoned, not a trap' over it. Now they arrived in a large room where Jade was being held captive blades raised but they slowly lowered. Of course Beck and Andre were right as Jade stood with a blade of her own in her hand standing over the beast of a giant ape with two heads. She was looking hot in a mixture of armor, similar to Beck's and his own. Robbie started forward when another monster appeared through a secret door, claws ready for attack but paused as Jade's sword flew through the air slamming into the beast's head. Walking over to the duo she pulled the sword out and smiled at Robbie.

"My hero," she said sarcastically. Robbie couldn't help but smile, "I guess as my hero you deserve a kiss" Leaning close to him Robbie felt his heart start to race. It wasn't like any of this was real right? This wasn't his Jade who just started to show kindness to him, this wasn't Beck's ex Jade this was princess Jade, so he leaned in as well. A deep laughter filled the room as a column of smoke appeared as an older man with wild hair, a ruddy robe that was made of gray wool and no shoes with a...coconut?

"I knew you would rescue yourself Ms. West, I also thought that they would sent the C team to rescue you and now I can harvest three pure hearts in order to create the ultimate spell, to turn all the trees in the area into coconut trees!"

"Well that's stupid," said Jade plainly.

"What!" the Sikowizard shouted throwing his coconut down.

"She has a point, a coconut tree in exchange for three souls?" mused Robbie, "I bet Cat could broker a better deal for you."

Reaching into her pocket Cat threw a seed onto the ground causing a coconut tree to instantly grow. Sikowizard clapped and moved over to it.

"Technically he is a boss," said Jade, looking slyly at Robbie who nodded at her.

"Let's do this, Cat?" Robbie said and with Sikowizard distracted Cat took out her pear phone starting up the epic music and the final battle began. Taking up her blade Jade rushed forward about to strike!

A bump in the road jerked Jade away. Blinking a few times she looked down at the discarded gaming system next to her, damn she lost while drifting off. Stretching she thought back on her really weird dream. No more video games, sugary drinks and stress over worrying about geek boy. Moving over to the bed where Robbie was still asleep she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. Thankfully it felt like the fever had broken. He looked so sweet this close up, almost like the hero from her dream. Her lower lip trembled a little as she thought about the fake, almost kiss when another bump send his head up towards hers. Their lips caught each other for a glorious second followed by their heads colliding. Groaning she fell back on her rear rubbing her head. Robbie sat up from his daze and realized half of what happened.

"Jade I am so sorry; I didn't know that my head would do that..." Looking up at him she couldn't help but smile, he was apologizing for something he couldn't have helped. At least he didn't seem to have noticed the kiss. His confused, dazed look at her got her laughing at him. Robbie was very confused but not hurt that she was laughing because for some reason he knew that she was laughing with him. Rubbing away the sleep from his eyes he thought on his video game related dream trying really hard to get that very nice image of Jade out of his mind. Another huge bump and he flew up and smacked his head on the ceiling, this time he joined her in the laughter.

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**-V**


	6. Waterfall

**Chapter 5 written by: GallaudetLurker**

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Despite the throbbing pain in his skull, Robbie doesn't help but laugh along with Jade, her laughter cascading over him like a waterfall. The pain quickly subsides as the magical healing powers of laughter begin to have an effect on him.

Laughter truly is the best medicine, Robbie thinks to himself as he continues to convulse with glorious laughter along with the beautiful raven-haired girl who is sitting so close to him that their legs are touching. He feels better in that moment than he has felt in days.

It was so surreal. Everything that has transpired so far, such as the long journey in Beck's trusty RV, the conversations - and bickering between two certain females - among his friends, the journey to Hell's Canyon that ended in a sojourn in an ironically-situated waterfall, sleeping with Jade in their run-down motel room, getting the flu due to the terrible weather, Jade taking care of him instead of Cat, the dream-

Wait.

Robbie's eyes widens, laughter abruptly cutting off as realization clicks in his mind.

Sleeping with Jade?

As if on a cue, his brain begins to materialize certain images and circulate them throughout his mind with neutrons, all fueled by the erotic implications caused by the thought. By the time Robbie's brain recognized its horrific mistake and was frantically scrambling to recall them and replace them with something more innocent, Robbie is already sputtering in convulsing coughs.

He feels his head begin to swell once again – whether from the bump on the ceiling or from his illness or from the embarrassment, he doesn't know – and the same sensation occurs in his pelvis region. He swears he could feel his blood course through his slim body - arteries and veins and all - going in two different directions, one to his face, and one to his nether regions.

"Robbie!" Jade cries, her voice wafting into Robbie's ear as her arms come around him, her hands rubbing his back comfortingly. It is sopping with worry and concern.

Here it is again.

Robbie lets out an inadvertently groan as he feels himself lengthening and hardening beneath his sheets, and he tries to cover it up with his thighs as he feels himself being lowered back onto the crumpled bed, still trying to contain his coughs. At this particular point of time, a slideshow is playing in Robbie's mind, set in an infinite loop. He could almost see it with his own eyes.

In this vision, Robbie is on top of Jade, doing something with her that he is too embarrassed to describe even to himself. She repeatedly moans his name out over and over again, her voice reverberating throughout the calm air of the RV-

"Robbie, are you okay?"

He feels Jade's hand on his forehead, and he opens his eyes. Jade is looming over him, looking down at him with concern shining in her dark eyes, her raven hair cascading from her face like a dark waterfall, as she feels his forehead and cheeks.

"Y-yes, I'm fine, just-" Robbie is cut off as he convulses with coughs once again, caused by this time not by his impure thoughts but the lingering flu.

"Oh yeah, you're fine," Jade intones a bit sarcastically as she pulls the sheets over him. "Your fever seems to be down, but I'll get your cough medicine and water, just in case." She says as she gets up from the bed.

Robbie silently nods, feeling his coughs subside for the time being. However, he couldn't help but let his eyes roam over Jade's shapely figure.

'She's so beautiful,' Robbie muses faintly to himself as he watches the dark-haired girl who is reaching into a cooler near the bed. But then his mind takes an abrupt turn into perverted territory, as if Rex had taken control of the vehicle that was his mind, and Robbie has this sensation that another coughing bout is on the way if he keeps on looking at Jade like that.

So he does that. He doesn't want to worry or annoy Jade any further, whatever comes first.

No longer has he looked away, the bed buckles as Jade sits next to Robbie, uncapping a small bottle of cough medicine. Nyquil, the label wrapped around the bottle indicate. Robbie grimaces.

He never liked the taste of the medicine. He always had trouble digesting the medicine, and every time he did so, he always felt sicker afterwards, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut as Jade pours the liquid into a spoon.

"Open up, Shapiro."

For some reason, Robbie kinda likes it better when Jade calls him by his first name instead of his last one. He doesn't know why he's thinking like that, given that Jade had usually referred to him as 'Shapiro' or any kind of unflattering nicknames in the past four years, so he puts it out of his mind.

As he pushes his head slightly off the pillow and opens his mouth, Robbie's breath hitches as Jade leans toward him, inadvertently revealing her cleavage within the confines of her black top.

Robbie feels the blood rush to his face once again, processed by his rapidly-accelerating heart, and his nether regions begin to pulsate once again as he looks at the cleft caused by the compression of her milky breasts.

Mustering all his available strength to avert his eyes away, Robbie closes his mouth around the spoon and winces as the bitter, accursed liquid flows down his constricted throat.

Immediately, a glass of water is placed before his lips. "Here's water, drink up." Jade says softly as she prepares to tilt it. It may be the trick of the dim light, but Robbie swears Jade's face looks flushed.

Robbie drinks the water. The cool water extinguishes most of the bitter aftertaste of the medicine as it courses into his throat and the rest of his body, causing a refreshing sensation within him. He's beginning to feel better already.

"T-thanks, Jade..." Robbie says, feeling the corner of his lips begin to curl up as gratitude swells up from inside him.

"You're welcome," Jade replies with a small smile.

Silence reigns as Robbie lays his head back on the pillow, not breaking eye contact with Jade.

Had someone told him a year ago that Jade West would be taking care of him while he was sick; Robbie would have dismissed it, thinking that it would be impossible for a girl who barely tolerated him to go all the way to help him feel better.

Yet, she did.

Sure, the rest of his friends helped him out, and he was thankful to them for that, but they didn't stay behind with him as Jade did. Well, Tori wanted to, but Jade deferred her otherwise.

Not that he blamed them, of course. Beck had to drive, Andre to keep him company, and the same went for Tori. But Cat...

Robbie knew that his crush on Cat was dwindling, and fast. True, Cat was sweet, beautiful, and innocent, and that was what had captivated him for so long. But her conduct in regards to his sickness was more words than action, and Robbie knew that action spoke louder than words.

And that wasn't mentioning that he, even in his drowsy state, heard the tone in Cat's voice that indicated that she didn't want to take care of him.

Ironically, the sweet girl who showered him with lovely hugs was apparently unwilling to tend to him, while the mean Goth girl who peppered him with taunts, insults, and putdowns did just that.

It was abundantly clear that despite her so-called hostility toward him, Jade West had shown that she genuinely cared about him, and his heart swelled up at that thought.

"Robbie...?"

"Hm?" Robbie blinks out of his thoughts, noticing that his face was closer to Jade's. Apparently, he had leaned toward her...or was it vice versa? He didn't know.

What he did know, however, was that the light wasn't playing tricks on him. Jade's face is slightly tinted pink, and she makes no effort to move away.

Robbie feels a jolt of adrenaline go through him, his heart beating fast, as he looks into Jade's blue eyes. Perhaps it was immense gratitude, or it was one of the probable side effects of the medicine, or it was his tendency to fall hard for beautiful girls who took care of him.

Wait.

Is he falling for Jade West?

Before he could delve any further into his thoughts, a bump in the road causes his head to jerk forward toward Jade's face, accidentally meshing his lips with her for the second time that night.

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**-V**


	7. Dense

**Chapter 6 Written by: MaybeWolf**

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Perfect.

That's really not the word Jade would use to describe her second sort of – well, not really kiss with Shapiro. There's a definite mesh of their lips, which is still shockingly not the worst thing ever. But then there's also everything after that, in which Shapiro's stupid head bounces up too high, and his sharpened nerd fangs puncture her bottom lip. At least it snaps her out of the haze she's been in for most of the week, following Shapiro around like a lost little puppy – well it sort of does, at least. Jade can't quite bring herself to ditch him.

"Stop." Jade commands, after no less than three minutes of Shapiro's simpering apologies. It's not that his guilt isn't delicious, it's just – well, Shapiro is very fragile right now. He doesn't need to be propped up on his elbows, apologizing for something that – well, Jade's not as adverse to the taste of blood as she should be. Also, she'd rather that he didn't kick the bucket through lack of oxygen or something dumb like that. It would put a damper on the trip, Jade decides philanthropically.

"But I-"

"Look, I've put a lot of time and effort into maintain whatever vague semblance of health you have. Now can you please not die – or whatever, before I have the chance to benefit from it?" Jade says with a wink, cutting through whatever feeble excuses Robbie had been brewing. With a final weary look, Shapiro finally crumbles back onto his pillows with a shuddering exhale. The slightest hint of a triumphant smirk on her lips, Jade turns her gaze to the window, where the rapidly dwindling trees flying past.

"So, those benefits, what do you want?" Shapiro asks a moment later, looking sort of like a scared Rabbit as he fretfully clutches the edge of the blanket. Jade's eyes flicker back to Robb- to Shapiro, and for the briefest period of time, she's actually stuck for words because of him. Biting on the inside of her lip, Jade's acutely aware of what _benefits_had crossed her mind – which is disturbing to say the least.

"_Wouldn't you like to know?_" The words pour through Jade's lips like a seductive smoke before she can help herself. She just barely catches her eyebrows before the start to rise – can't have Shapiro knowing that she hadn't really meant to make an innuendo for once.

"Yes, I really would!" So dense. Jade screws her eyes shut. With Shapiro's words, she feels _her_head start to throb at how incredibly, incredibly stupid boys can be.

"Move over." Jade doesn't wait for a response, she kind of just – well, shunts him out of the way with her butt. He looks briefly terrified, then confused, then guilty. By the time Jade's kicking her feet onto the bed and under the blankets, Shapiro's rolled onto his stomach which – oh.

At that moment, Cat and Vega come crashing into the back of the RV to make their hourly – or whatever it is, inspection of Shapiro. Tori's eyebrows fly somewhere above the moon at the sight of Jade in bed with Robbie – which is ridiculous because they're so not even doing anything. He's lying on his stomach like a good dweeb, and she's sitting with her back against the wall. Stupid Vega, she doesn't know anything. If it were even like _that_, things would be much different. There would be -

"We're going camping!" Cat sings, drawing out the last word and immediately making Jade wonder if she should steal some of Shapiro's painkillers.

"Do you – is Robbie going to be alright? Like with the being outside and, the other stuff – we can like help you two put up your tent." Vega babbles, again doing that stupid thing where she tries to make sure everybody is happy. Jade rolls her eyes as hard as humanly possible at that, and exhales in an irritated way. Of course the dunderheads up front would think camping of all things is a good thing when puppet boy is half dying back here. Jade's eyebrows dip with that thought – Shapiro's suffering used to be a lot more hilarious.

"Trust me Vega, Robbie here – he knows how to _pitch a tent._" Jade intones, successfully drawing an alarmed yelp out of the lump beside her. Cat's eyebrows upturn in confusion, while Vega looks stupid and annoying – as usual. They stay for a few more minutes, before retreating to the front of the RV again. Jade kind of – and in Vega's case, really prefers things this way. She's about to feel disturbed at the thought of enjoying her time alone with _him_. But then he's coming back to life, and making her laugh with some stupid joke. Laughter chases most of Jade's thoughts away, but she can't quite shake the distinct impression that she's got a problem. A lanky, Jewish – not entirely goblin looking problem.

In spite of Jade's earlier prediction, Robbie as it turns out is no help in putting up a tent – actually his skills probably amount to something closer to a covert sabotage attempt by some kind of esoteric force. The two of them struggle against the tent – and against Robbie's apparently innate desire for Jade to freeze under the stars, for a good thirty minutes before Beck and Andre put them out of their misery. Shapiro pouts, and Jade's disappointed with herself for finding it to be a little cu – less grating than usual.

"You know what goes great with camping?" Beck asks the group, now clad in a khaki shirt and looking like some kind of demented – and incompetent most likely, camp counselor. Andre and Vega peer over at him warily, which is good. Jade thinks maybe they're now realizing how incompetent Beck really is.

"Maleria?" Shapiro asks, eyes widening behind his glasses as he looks around fearfully. Jade could swear he actually hovers a little closer towards her with that comment, like she's going to protect him. It all combines to shake a real laugh out of her. Beck and Shapiro both look offended at that, and the dweeb closest to Jade beginning to launch into a lecture about mosquito safety.

"Shapiro, be quiet or I'm not sharing my sleeping bag – the_ last _sleeping bag." Jade says, emitting a low growl to shove Shapiro back into line. Again, his eyes widen behind his glasses. Worryingly, Jade actually sort of wants to lean towards him and –

"Do you guys think there are bears in these woods? This one time, my brother went camping and he got attacked by a bear for stealing it's picnic basket – well, except it wasn't a basket. Or a bear, and I think he was actually in the middle of a park." Cat pipes up randomly, a nonsensical series of words that Jade begrudgingly thinks of as a story dribbling through her lips. Also, she's never been more thankful to be baffled by Cat.

"Uh, thanks Cat." Andre says, probably trying to earn brownie points with her. Jade watches Shapiro from the corner of her eye - she's half expecting his muddy eyes to have turned green with envy. He's not even looking at cat. Instead, he's sort of sadly looking at the tent he's to share with jade.

"What's your problem?" Jade demands, forgetting that Robbie's body is still knitting itself together for a moment and jabbing him in the ribs. He winces and jade immediately feels bad - she almost even apologizes!

"I should have been the one to put our tent up." Robbie says, radiating a particularly pathetic aura. Jade rolls her eyes, and before she can stop it -

"You can put up the tent next time." Shapiro immediately perks up at that, and jade just wishes she were better at keeping her mouth shut.

"You know, if Captain Wilderness makes us camp again during this trip..." Jade elaborates carefully, making sure to sound as mean as possible - and actually attempting to avoid wounding Robbie's pride any further which is distressing.

"Yeah, totally." Robbie says – and the stupid, dorky, stupid moron has the nerve to look sort of smug. Jade fumes and directs a very dark looking in his direction, Robbie at the very least has the good grace to look a little bit terrified. It's a good look for him, it sort of brings out the sculpted nature of his bone structure – uh, not that Jade is noticing that. She's also not noticing that Shapiro look less lanky than usual. No, definitely not.

Appropriately enough for this trip, _not _noticing Robbie' s slightly less feeble than usual physique is the highlight of Jade's afternoon. After that Vega comes flapping through the trees like some kind of demented bird - maybe a pigeon that's somehow gotten displaced, or an eagle that's sustained too many blows to the head. Anyway, the Vega bird flitters around them – Robbie and Jade, for a little while longer before Beck, Cat and Andre arrive on the scene. They'd been gathering firewood or in Cat's case, a handbag full of some rather dubious berries. Jade makes a mental note to throw them in the river when Cat's attention is inevitably seized by something else. Irritatingly, Beck is starting to build a fire with Andre – neither Captain Wilderness nor his sidekick Brown Bear have bothered to ask Robbie to help. Emitting a low growl, Jade stomps past the sulking dweeb next to herself and grabs Captain Wilderness – also known as her ex-boyfriend Beck, by the collar. She drags him away from the rest of the group with nary a whimper of protest from anybody else. Like good pets they've learnt not to get between Beck and Jade when her eyes are blazing.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jade hisses, glancing surreptitiously back in the direction of the campsite – just you know, to make sure it's still there. Not at all because of Robbie, either. The Earl of Dorkchester will probably survive three or four minutes without her.

"Uh, I was building a fire." Beck counters, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"You were excluding R-Shapiro _again_." Jade fumes, kicking at an innocent rock – which had been a bad idea. The rock in question had been partially buried, and quite a lot larger than Jade had been anticipating. Gritting her teeth and suppressing the pain shooting through her foot, Jade returns to glowering at Beck.

"We're not excluding – he's sick…and Robbie! We thought he'd be, you know, happier sitting around with you." Beck says, voice breaking a little as his eyes flicker desperately back to the campsite. Jade smirks a little at that. Beck's honest to a fault – that much he's always been. It had taken the end of their second attempt at a relationship for Jade to realize that. Stifling that brief levity, Jade reconfigures her face into it's usual frown.

"Yeah, well. Just stop expecting me to babysit him." Jade says, avoiding Beck's eyes and focusing on a particularly interesting shrub. Beck, being the irritating person that he is, taps her on the shoulder and of course, utters the question she's been avoiding for most of the past few days.

"Jade, do you_ like_ Robbie?"

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Remember to review, and check out all of the author's profiles for more awesome stories.**

**-V**


	8. Invalid

**Chapter 7 written by: Jonathan81**

* * *

Rather than give Beck an answer, Jade turned around in a huff and stormed back to her site. Looking upon her tent, she noticed Shapiro talking to Vega. Her eyes glared at the two of them and growled, "What are you doing here, Vega?"

Tori turned back to the still fuming brunette. "I came to talk to Robbie. This is like the first time I've seen him alone. You're always with him, Jade. It's like you two are dating and you don't let anyone come close to him."

"WE ARE NOT DATING!" She yelled at her. "God, it's like everyone is taking crazy pills. I'm only babysitting the dweeb. You all are the ones that left me to this dork. What am I supposed to do? Leave this invalid to die? He can hardly take care of himself?!"

As soon as Jade said the 'I' word, Robbie's eyes sank. He got to his feet and looked at Tori. "I'll see you later, Tori." He shook his head, gave Jade a depressed look, dropped the last tent spike on the ground and left.

Tori glared at Jade, "What the hell is wrong with you!?" She approached her friend. "I've seen the way you've been taking care of Robbie. I know you like him. We all know that you like him. Why can't you just admit that you do, go apologize to Robbie, and pray that he forgives you for what you said?"

"What I said?!" Jade yelled. "I didn't say anything I haven't said to him before. Robbie knows he's a special case, and he knows that what he and I have is only platonic. I could never like a guy like Shapiro!"

Tori shook her head, "Get your mind out of this funk, West. Because you don't know when it's going to come back and bite you in the ass!"

Rather than wait for her to reply, Tori turned around and stormed after her friend; hoping that he was alright. Unaware of Jade's eyes finally relaxing and looking at the direction the two of them left. Letting out a breath, she went to a stump, slumped down and looked upon the spot Robbie was sitting. Not knowing what she just did.

* * *

Robbie stormed through the clearing. He made his way to an opening and fond a tree. Going beside it, he slumped upon the bark and closed his eyes. A tired breath escaped his lips as he fell to the ground. His back to the back and his legs sprawled out. His arms laying on the grass in the same form of his legs. Easy breaths flowed out of him as he sat there in stillness.

He was not some invalid. He never was. He could take care of himself and he knew that he was right. He's been pretty much taking care of himself his whole life. Robbie didn't have the parents that would help while he was growing up. Everything he ever did was because no one would help him, and no one would spend any time with him.

Then why did it hurt so bad?

He was definitely not an invalid.

Right?

"Robbie?"

A tired breath escaped his lips as he heard the voice of his friend. He could smell the normal perfume of her. He could always tell, especially when she drenched herself. Either because of a cute guy she wanted to get the attention of or when one of the rare times that Jade switched her shampoo for perfume in the shower.

"Are you okay?"

Robbie very tiredly opened his eyes. He watched as his friend took a seat beside. "This spot taken?"

He looked at her, shrugged, "I'm an invalid. Why should I care that someone wants to sit with me?"

She sighed, "Jade didn't mean that."

He gave her a look. One that she always knew meant that he didn't mean what he was saying. "Really? Because Jade really doesn't think of me as a lost cause? I know she 'tolerates' me, but I mean, c'mon, who am I kidding?"

"So what?" She questioned. "You believe her? You believe that you're an invalid?"

Robbie shrugged, "I dunno. I mean, I always thought that I wasn't." Shaking his head, he added, "I mean, I know I'm not normal. Being intolerable to gluten doesn't help any. Being allergic to peanuts doesn't help, being so 'unapproachable' by people doesn't help…" He sighed. "You remember Hollywood Arts. People didn't exactly want to be around me."

"I wanted to be around you." She defended him. "Robbie, I wouldn't of given you blood if I didn't think you were so 'unapproachable.'" She smiled. "I do think of you as one of my best friends."

He glanced at his friend, "Really?" Still not believing her answer.

"Robbie, you got to stop doing this." She told him, her arm wrapped around his shoulders. "You're not an invalid. You're not a lost cause, you're not…" She sighed. "Robbie, you're allot more capable then you think you are."

He smirked, "Sometimes I wish you and I got together, Tori. I always believed that you were one of the few people who actually could stand to be with me outside of school."

"Robbie, we're friends. Best friends. I may not think of you as a potential boyfriend, but I do think of you as one of my best friends. I love you, Robbie. I always will. I'm sorry I don't feel that way about you. I so wish I did, Robbie. I wish I could've fallen in love with my best friend. It would've saved me allot of heartbreak. I'm sure of it. But…"

Robbie looked at her, shocked. "You really wish that, Tori? You really wish you fell in love with me?"

She gave him a smile, "Robbie, like I said. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a great guy. Just because we didn't work out, doesn't mean I don't love you." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "And I don't think Jade really meant to call you an invalid."

"Really?" He asked.

"Robbie, I think Jade actually likes you. I mean really likes you… romantically…" She smirked, "You know she isn't the best people to share her emotions. Beck was her boyfriend twice, and they still couldn't make it work."

Robbie sighed, taking it in. "So… What am I supposed to do, Tori?" He looked at his friend. "What am I supposed…"

Tori told him, "I'll help you. We all will. Beck, Andre, Cat… We all…"

He shook his head, "I don't want to get them involved in this, Tori. The last think I want is Beck to know that I'm trying to snake his girlfriend…"

Tori clarified, "Former girlfriend."

"Ok…" Robbie told her. "Former girlfriend. But I don't want to…"

Tori sighed, "Fine. I'll help you. I'll help you to ask Jade out." Robbie looked at her, shocked. "Like I said, don't think too low of yourself. We'll work on your self-confidence. We'll do all that. And I'm sure once you get Jade to go out with you, things will work out better for you. You'll feel better about yourself. You'll feel happy…" She smiled, "I even think once you two start going out Jade might actually mellow out some." She paused for a second, "Well, she might try to mellow out some."

Robbie nodded slowly.

"Where do we start?"

* * *

**Another awesome chapter, by another awesome writer. Hope you guys have enjoyed, and remember to take a moment to review the story and check out the authors' profile. Thanks!**

**-V**


	9. Fireside

**Chapter 8 written by: Broken Eros**

* * *

She'd laughed and pretended it had been no big deal, even teasing him a bit once he had calmed down. Of course, being his usual naive self, he had completely missed her meaning and they had settled next to each other simply enjoying the company.

Still, just because she enjoyed talking to him, and just being around him didn't mean she liked him, did it? Sure she had enjoyed their kiss but, that was just because it had been so long since she'd had a real kiss, right? There was no way, absolutely no way whatsoever that she could be falling for nerdy little Robbie Shapiro... could she?

Tori's laughter broke her train of thought sending it sailing off the tracks and into the river of loathing she reserved especially for the Vega family. Jade watched as the two of them traded some private joke, laughing easily with one another. She nearly growled when Vega's hand landed on Robbie's chest, she did growl when Robbie made no move to push it away.

She was definitely going to be sick.

"What, you don't think Jade would be impressed by my rippling chest?" Robbie asked, trying his best to flex the bit of muscle he had. Tori laughed and pushed him gently away, the force of it nearly toppling the small boy. She reached out one arm and kept him steady trying not to laugh at how much of a pushover Robbie really was.

"Uh, no." Tori laughed, the sound was infectious, and Robbie couldn't help but laugh along with her. It's moments like this that he's reminded why Tori is his best friend, sure the whole group is close, but Tori's spastic manner and generally nurturing personality make it easy for him to be around her. It's a shame that he never fell for her, the way he has for Jade. He imagines how much easier his life would be if he'd fallen for Tori Vega. It's not that she lacks anything, she's smart, and funny, and beautiful. She's simply not Jade. A pang of sadness goes through him at the thought as he glances over at Jade's scowling face. She meets his eyes for a moment then turns her back to him.

"Maybe, I should just give up Tori, it's obvious that Jade isn't interested in me." He sighs feeling the bit of happiness their laughter had brought drain out of him with the thought.

"Robbie, that's not true, everyone can see that Jade has feelings for you, I can see it, Beck can see it, Andre can see it. With the way, you two keep staring at each other I wouldn't be surprised if Cat could see it." Tori laughs and Robbie can't help but smile a bit at the thought.

"Then why did she call me an invalid, why start screaming like Cat shaved her eyebrows again at the question of her being interested in me? Am I that bad?" Robbie sighed letting his head fall into his hands in frustration.

"Robbie, Jade's... well... she's not good with the whole feelings thing. Cat's her best friend and you see how she treats her." Tori trails off as Robbie gives a muffled grunt of acknowledgement.

"You've just got to have more confidence in yourself Robbie, you're a great guy!" Tori squeaked nudging Robbie once again. His head is still buried in his hands, but he can imagine the frown that's crossed her features, can almost feel her desire to help him, to comfort him, to fix something she had no hand in creating or breaking because that's just whom she is. Tori Vega just wants everyone to be happy.

"I could... talk to her, for you" Tori supplies hesitantly, the idea was so ridiculous that Robbie couldn't help but burst out laughing. Tori looked momentarily affronted and then began to laugh as well.

"Thanks Tori" Robbie sighed as the laughter finally ebbed away, he smiled at the pleased but confused look on Tori's face as she cautiously smiled back.

"For what?" She asked, relief obvious on her face that she could help her friend. Even if she wasn't entirely sure what she had done.

"For being here, for looking out for me. It's nice to know somebody care's. Even if it's not exactly what I pictured." Robbie chuckles as he looks over at Jade, noticing that she's peaking over her shoulder at him while trying not to be obvious.

"Sure thing Robbie" Tori chuckles, happy that she could help as she leans in and plants a quick kiss on Robbie's cheek. Pleased when he blushes slightly.

"I meant what I said Robbie, any girl would be lucky to have you. Don't forget that," Tori says suddenly solemn before giving him one last smile and walking back to Beck and Andre. She can feel Jade's glare across the campsite burning holes in the back of her head, but she doesn't show it at all. She's sure Jade has seen her kiss Robbie's cheek, sure that Jade's paranoid and probably jealous mind will over-think this. Good.

With that thought in mind Tori began to help Beck and Andre with the fire. Not that she needed the warmth; Jade's glare was practically setting her body ablaze.

The mood around the fire was somber as Robbie and Jade made every effort to ignore each other's existence, the others sensing their intentions. Tried to make conversation among themselves, but not even Cat could manage to be her usual bubbly self with so much tension in the air. After a short time, the groups all broke up to head to bed, leaving Robbie and Jade to sit around the smoldering embers of the campfire.

"Maybe I should find somewhere else to sleep?" Robbie said suddenly drawing Jade's attention to the frowning boy. He'd spoken aloud, but he seemed not to notice he'd even said it, so intent was his gaze on the now smoking pile of embers.

"What are you talking about, Shapiro?" Jade responded, she tried to snarl the question at him, but it came out far softer than she intended, it was almost… tender.

"Look, Jade, I don't want to seem ungrateful or anything, you've been really nice about taking care of me while I was sick. I'm sure it hasn't been easy for you to be stuck babysitting me." Robbie's words were sincere, without a hint of anger or malice, which only made them hurt all the more. Jade flinched a she realized that she had done this, part of her wanted nothing more than to ignore the obvious pain she had inflicted on Robbie. To ignore the lead weight that had lodged in her stomach at his words. She felt conflicted, but the decision was made for her when she spoke without meaning to.

"It hasn't been that bad" Jade replied, cursing herself for the remark the moment she'd said it. The last thing she needed was for people to start thinking she liked hanging out with the nerd. Sure it wasn't nearly as much torture as she would've thought before the trip began, but that didn't mean... what? She wouldn't call Shapiro boyfriend material, no matter how many times she caught herself staring at him or vice versa. Still, that didn't mean they couldn't be friends, right? She'd made a sort of friendship with Vega, and if she could get along with Tori she could get along with anyone.

"Jade, you called me an invalid, that's pretty bad." Robbie sighed, and Jade fought to keep herself from rolling her eyes. So she had called him an invalid, it wasn't as if she had meant it, it was simply something she had said in the moment. Vega tended to bring out the worst in her at the best of times and... she sighed.

"You're not really an invalid, I mean yeah you're kind of a spaz, but you're not an invalid. I might've gone a little overboard when I was yelling at Vega." Jade sighed, it wasn't an apology, but it was always so hard for her to apologize. No one ever seemed to understand that, Beck always pressed her to apologize, her gestures of remorse or attempts to make things better were never enough. She waited for Shapiro to press, to demand more of her.

"So, you don't hate being around me?" The question made her heart stop, maybe it was the genuine desire for approval in his words, maybe it was the suddenness of the question, maybe it was the way something inside her screamed no at the question, maybe it was the realization the she really didn't hate being around him, she actually kind of like hanging out with Shap… Robbie.

"You're better than Vega" was her simply reply. He seemed to think on this for a moment and then he smiled, and Jade felt her heartbeat speed up at the sight, even as her mind fought to understand the swell of emotions pouring through her at such a simple interaction.

"Thanks Jade" he said, and Jade tried not to snort in response. All she'd said was he was better than Vega, and here he was practically floating of the ground like one of those old Pepe-Le-Pew cartoons. Still, part of her was happy that she'd been able to break his funk, especially without having to say those words.

"Yeah yeah, you coming to bed or bag in this case?" Jade asked raising one eyebrow in her usual amused smirk. In the dim light, she could see his nod and without waiting for more Jade turned and crawled into their tent. She had bent a bit lower than necessary, he didn't comment. If she could feel his eyes roving over her body, she wouldn't say a word.

After all, Vega wasn't the only one who could capture Robbie's attention.

* * *

**Another awesome chapter down! Make sure to stick around and leave a review! Also, check out Broken Eros' profile, as well as the profiles of all the other authors to read more great stories. Thanks for reading,**

**-V  
**


	10. Ruined

**Chapter 9 written by: Cenobite829**

* * *

One Last Trip

Chapter 9

Ruined

Robbie climbed in behind Jade, honestly enjoying the view she had given him, before realizing that she hadn't been lying. The only sleeping bag left was the one Jade was sliding into. He sighed and kicked off his shoes before curling up on the tent floor. He should be ok if the temp didn't drop too much. He heard Jade's breathing go deep and rhythmic and he just laid there think as he waited for sleep.

'Do I really want to be with her? I mean yeah she is beautiful, talented, funny in a different sort of way, and so far above me. She would never want anything to do with me. I know that but I can dream can't I? So do I want to be with her? Yes. Will I ever be with her? I don't think so unless Tori can figure something out to help me. Maybe I'll take over driving tomorrow so I can talk to Tori for a while. We can figure out a game plan. Yeah that is what I will do.' Robbie thought to himself as he drifted off.

A few hours later he woke up shivering. It wasn't bad but it was cold and he couldn't fall back asleep. As he lay there shivering he must have accidently woken up Jade because he heard her voice from the darkness.

"Robbie you must be cold. Come here. We don't want you getting sick again." she said in a groggy voice. He couldn't see her, not in the darkness, but he did feel her soft hand pull him towards her. He was too tired to argue and soon found himself in the sleeping bag with Jade. She laid her head on his chest and snuggled in and soon they were both asleep.

* * *

Jade woke up the next morning feeling very well rested. Her pillow was soft and warm and breathing...

Jade bolted up, or at least tried to, but the sleeping bag held her down and almost against Robbie. Now in the light of day she remembered that she had invited him to share the bag last night but she blamed it on exhaustion. Looking down at his face she had to admit that he was kind of cute like this, an arm around her waist and his face completely at ease. That was the weird thing. When she slept with Beck she had woken up several times before him and he never looked as at peace as Robbie did at this very moment. She ran a hand through his hair, something she had done several times while he was sick but now it seemed almost better because she didn't have an excuse, she was doing it because she wanted too. In the early morning or very late at night, when no one else was up, Jade found that she could be honest with herself. She had been before when she saw that the end was coming for her and Beck, she just denied it when the day started. And right now she can admit that she is developing feelings for Robbie but as soon as the day starts she will deny it. She will work on being his friend. She will tease and maybe even flirt with him but that is all.

Jade watched as Robbie woke up and she just smiled at him before sliding out of the sleeping bag. She got her clothes and went into Tori and Cat's tent to get changed. Tori was already out and at the RV making breakfast. After changing they all ate together and then Robbie had an announcement.

"Because I haven't been able to do my share of the driving for a while I'll take the six hours until we hit Forks. I will just need someone to stay up front with me to keep me company." Before Tori could say anything Jade jumped in.

"Yeah I'll ride with you." She said causually. She didn't want him alone with Tori and she knew she was going to say something. They were a little too close for her liking last night. Robbie looked at Tori and shrugged before nodding to Jade. Soon they were packing up and on the road again. Jade didn't let Robbie put in his music as she listened to some heavy metal for the whole trip. Robbie said nothing just driving and stealing glances at his passenger. The sunlight was hitting her dark hair and almost giving her a halo that made her look angelic. He let out a shaky breath and went back to focusing on the road.

As for Jade she stole glances at him when she could. She didn't understand why he put up with her as often as he did. He should be listening to his music and yet he didn't stop her once when she switched cds to another one of hers. She didn't understand him or her growing feelings. She shouldn't be attracted to him. It was just he was comfortable to sleep on and he actually listened when she needed him too. Hell, he listened when all she was doing was ranting, normally about Vega. For six hours they didn't talk both wrapped up in their thoughts of each other.

When they pulled into the RV park at Forks Robbie watched everyone run to the public bathroom/shower room that the park set up. He took his time and hooked up the power and water to the RV before going inside to get himself a change of clothes. While not his Galaxy Wars pjs, they were dirty, they were some nice sweats and a baggy shirt. As he walked to go take a shower he saw Beck and Andre talking to three very pretty girls that were all wearing short shorts and bikini tops. He just shook his head at how fast they worked but these were two of the most popular boys at Hollywood Arts. What he didn't see was Tori watching him go and then seeing the girls. Tori smiled and ran back into the RV and a few minutes later she came out with some clothes. She knew Robbie so well that she timed her walking into the male shower room just as he was walking out. She took a second to admire his chest and arms, which were more toned then she thought. He stopped shocked when he saw her.

"Tori what are you doing?" He asked looking around and blushing at the fact that all he had on was a towel.

"I want you to put these on and then borrow Andre's guitar and play a song for us. Not a silly song but one of the ones you have been working on." She said with a smile. He looked at her confused.

"What is that going to help?"

"Trust me. I started this plan last night. Just do what I say." Tori said as she turned and walked out. Robbie just shrugged as he put on a pair of black slacks and a tight green shirt. He had forgotten he packed this shirt as it was almost a size too small. He still shrugged and put it on. When he walked out he saw the three girls still hanging around Beck and Andre. He really got a look at them now. They were three very toned and tanned blondes. All he could think was of course they were. What really shocked him though was that none of them were hanging on Beck and Andre. Cat was on Andre's lap and his arm was holding her there, not that she was fighting him on it. As for Beck he was talking with Tori and they were very close to each other, almost like they were kissing or about to. Jade was off to the side looking pissed at the blonde invasion. Robbie couldn't help but chuckle at that. He also wanted to run over and assure her that she was the most beautiful girl out there but he knew she wouldn't accept it from him. Tori looked at him and smiled before gesturing with her head to the nearby guitar. He sighed and picked it up. He knew better then to argue with Tori. She would get what she wanted so might as well stop the fight.

When he grabbed the guitar the other girls turned and looked at him. The Blondes, as he taken to calling them in his head although their names were Cathy, Betty, and Angel, were just watching him as he sat down and started to make sure the guitar was tuned. After he finished checking he smiled.

"Um this is a song I've been writing for a while." He said as he stared plucking the strings. Soon a very pleasant tune filled the air. The Blondes all turned and watched him with joy in their eyes. It seems like they like musicians.

_"I was fine,_  
_I pulled myself together_  
_Just in time,_  
_To throw my self away_  
_Once my perfect world was gone I knew,_  
_You ruined everything in the nicest way_

_You should know,_  
_How great things were before you_  
_Even so,_  
_They're better still today_  
_Now I can't think who I was before_  
_You ruined everything in the nicest way_

_Bumps in the road remind us_  
_The worst of the best behind us_  
_Only good things will find us, me and you_  
_Days will be clear and sunny_  
_We're gonna need more money_  
_Baby you know it's funny_  
_All those stories coming,_  
_True_

_Despite my better efforts,_  
_It's all for you_  
_the worst kind of cliché_

_I'll be with you till the day you leave_  
_You ruined everything in the nicest way"_

He finished singing and looked around. The Blondes just looked at him with awe and Cathy, the smallest of the girls, went to move the guitar and slide into his lap. Robbie was in shock at her actions but his hand went to her waist to hold her steady. Even though this was nice it wasn't what he wanted. He wanted this to be Jade. God now what was he going to do?

Meanwhile Jade was fuming. She had liked his song, but honestly she liked most of his songs even the broken glass song. She liked this one too, it being a pure and simple love song, and part of her wanted to smile and sit by Robbie but now that blonde bitch was in his lap. She felt the familiar surge of jealousy that she used to feel with Beck. She didn't know why. She didn't like him like that, or at least she would never admit it during the day. In fact she was about to go yell at him for letting that blonde girl sit in his lap when their eyes met.

'Oh wow. He looks sad and almost upset. Why would he be upset about having a sexy blonde on his lap? It looks like he wanted someone else.' She thought to herself before it dawned on her who he wanted. She made a choice at that moment and she walked over and gave the blonde bimbo on his lap the harshest glare she could. The girl moved away looking scared as Jade slid into his lap. Robbie's hand went around Jade's waist but much more secure then it was on Cathy. Jade rested her head on his shoulder and looked around ready to shut down any of her friends that wanted to comment on this but they were all smiling and talking softly. It was like they already knew what was going on. She thought she wasn't that obvious but she was wrong. She turned her head and whispered very softly to Robbie.

"You ruined everything in the nicest way." She said quoting his song before kissing him softly. She just hoped this would work out.

* * *

**Hey two things from Cenobite. One is I am so sorry because of how late this is. Real Life had been beating me up a lot lately. Two the song he sung is "You Ruined Everything" by Johnathan Coulter. To hear the version he played listen to the one off of his live album "Best Concert Ever."**


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